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TheAssociatedPress SONOMA Team Penske rolled into the title-deciding IndyCar race last season quite confident about its chances to win a cham- pionship. The organization had three drivers in contention that day and had led the series stand- ings the entire year. But nothing went as planned at Sonoma Raceway, where Team Penske choked away the title to Scott Dixon and Chip Ga- nassi Racing. "It was just such a pity, that we allowed Ganassi to get that title," Will Power said Friday. Juan Pablo Montoya had led the standings since the season- opening race, but contact with Power during the event put Montoya deep in the field and he couldn't recover against Dixon. Dixon won the race, which is worth double points, and tied Montoya in the final stand- ings. The championship went to Dixon on a tiebreaker. There will be no such Penske problems this Sunday. No mat- ter what happens, The Captain will hoist the IndyCar champi- onship after the checkered flag. Only Power and Simon Pa- genaud are mathematically el- igible to win the title, with Pa- genaud holding a 43-point lead over Power in his pursuit of his first title. Power won in 2014 for Penske. With the threat from outside competition eliminated, each Penske driver is focused only on doing what they need to do Sunday to lock down the title. No matter the final outcome, it's a win for Roger Penske in the 50th anniversary of the Penske race teams. "I think it's a good situation, INDYCAR SERIES No matter what, Team Penske will win a title Staff Report LOS MOLINOS The Los Molinos Lady Bulldogs won all three of their matches Thursday at the Beth Pilger Invitational tourna- ment they are hosting. The Bulldogs beat the Williams Yellowjackets 25-19 and 25-11, the Colusa RedHawks 25-17, 21-25 and 15-11 and the Princeton Eagles 27- 25 and 25-7. Heather Rodriguez was named player of the match against Wil- liams, Valeria Garnica was named player of the match against Colusa and Liset Castillo was named player of the match against Princ- eton. Rodriguez had two aces, eight digs and 37 assists over the three matches; Garnica had one kill, two digs and three assists on the day; and Castillo had 29 kills, nine aces, a block and 25 digs. Other top performers were Rachel Rogers with 35 kills, two aces, three blocks and 10 digs; Henna Acevedo with 10 kills, nine aces, a block, seven digs and six assists; Kendall Williams with six aces, a dig and 15 assists; Sugey Cota with nine digs; and Gene- sis Acevedo with four kills, three blocks and three assists. The Bulldogs are 12-7 overall. Play in the tournament contin- ues today at Los Molinos High School, 7900 Sherwood Blvd. Willows3,Cardinals0 WILLOWS The Corning Lady Car- dinals lost in three sets Wednes- day to the Willows Honkers, 25- 10, 25-20 and 25-12. Sam Haydon had three kills and four digs; Mariah Castle had three kills, a block, 11 digs and an assist; Sages Boles had two kills, three aces, a block and five digs; and freshman Adri Safford had a kill, an ace, a block, seven digs and nine assists. The Cardinals (7-5) were sched- uled to face the Mount Shasta Bears (4-2) on Friday at the Bat- tle of the North State Tournament in Anderson. Spartans 3, Anderson 0 ANDERSON The Red Bluff Lady Spartans took a three-set win Wednesday over the Anderson Cubs in Anderson, 25-13, 25-17 and 25-13. As of 2 p.m. Friday no individ- GIRLS VOLLEYBALL BULLDOGS SWEEP AS TOURNEY OPENS PilgerInvitationalcontinues;LadySpartanswin,Cardinals,Warriorsfall LARRYLONG—CONTRIBUTED Los Molinos' Rachel Rogers makes a block against Colusa player Helena Harris on Thursday at the Beth Pilger Invitational tournament in Los Molinos. JEFF LARSON — PARADISE POST Red Bluff's Naomi Renfroe, le , set a course record with her victory in the girls 4,000-meter Las Plumas Invitational, running a mark of 15:31.99. By Jeff Larson Paradise Post OROVILLE In perhaps one of its first true tests of the season, the Paradise boys cross country team edged Red Bluff and host Las Plumas at the an- nual LP cross country 4,000-meter invitational Friday morning at the Thermalito Forebay in Oroville. The girls race was a different story. Led by Naomi Renfroe's course re- cord at 15 minutes, 31.99 seconds, the Red Bluff girls cross country team beat Paradise 22-35. Joining Ren- froe in the record books — though listed second — is LP's Kaitlyn Mor- gado, who finished second overall in 15:50.52, edging last year's record set by Paradise grad and Butte College freshman Talia Swangler (16:31). Red Bluff took sixth, eighth, ninth and 10th to grab the team vic- tory over Paradise with 22 points. The Bobcats were led by Abby Gar- cia, who finished fourth in 17:49.21, followed by teammate Jalen Par- rott (seventh, 18:37.30) and Kassidy Bongers (11th, 19:53.89) to lead the scoring pack. In the boys race, the Bobcats, be- hind three top-10 finishes in the 31-member field, collected 37 points to beat Red Bluff with 39 and LP with 44. Paradise's Gabriel Price finished a team-high fifth place overall in 13:38.39, while teammates Brody Guinon (seventh, 14:11.05) and Matt Boutelle (ninth, 14:17.14) followed a couple spots behind to lead the scor- ing team. LP's Brian Hastings continued his assault on the section by win- ning the race in 13:02.05, narrowly missing the course record set last year by Paradise's Masen Becerril (12:59). The junior Hastings came in with the fourth-fastest 5,000-me- ter time in the Northern Section at 15:47.7. LP's Dymond Kostenko helped the Thunderbirds go one-two, with a runner-up finish in 13:18.45. Other notable performances from early section favorites included West Valley's Chris Meeder and Eric Mo- refield finishing three-four, respec- tively, in 13:25.08 and 13:35.49 on Friday. Meeder and Morefield are both top-10 in the section in the 5,000 meters. CROSS COUNTRY RedBluff'sRenfroesetsrecord By Jon Wilner Bay Area News Group Here comes Texas, rebuilt, re- stocked and loaded for Bears. In a rare west coast appear- ance, the Longhorns visit Cal on Saturday night looking very much like a powerhouse reborn under third-year coach Charlie Strong. After six wayward seasons, the Longhorns are undefeated and ranked 11th after upsetting Notre Dame in the season opener and hammering UTEP. Their resurgence is not a good sign for any program with so much as a toe dipped in the Lone Star State's recruiting pool. That list includes a certain Berkeley- based program seeking a return to relevance. As they continue to climb out of the 2012-13 nadir, the Bears remain locked in orbit around the Southern California recruit- ing basin — as they must. But a Texas tilt has emerged under fourth-year coach Sonny Dykes, who grew up, played and coached in the state. Dykes has assembled a coach- ing staff with deep Texas ties, par- ticularly in the cases of offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, special teams coach Mark Tommerdahl and offensive line coach Brandon Jones. Seven current players call Texas home, including starting quarterback Davis Webb and tail- back Vic Enwere. The same goes for two committed recruits. While that might not sound like much, it represents 22 percent of the as- sembled class of 2017. "It's tough to pull kids out, but it's such large state that people get overlooked," said Spavital, who spent four seasons at Hous- ton and Texas A&M. "If you have ties into the state, you have to at least attempt it." Cal's elevated admissions stan- dards, which require the major- ity of incoming athletes to have a 3.0 grade-point average in high school, has forced Dykes and his staff to expand the recruit- ing pool. The higher the bar, the wider the net must be cast. Travel distance and cultural differences make recruiting Texas prospects a challenge for any west coast school. But the task be- comes considerably more daunt- ing when the Longhorns, the flag- ship program in a football-crazed state, are competing for titles. "Everybody has their little divi- sions," said Webb, who grew up in the Dallas suburbs. "West Texas is all Texas Tech. The Houston area is Texas A&M ... but the major- ity of the state is the Longhorns." That was the case a decade ago, when Texas regularly won 10 or more games and competed for national championships under coach Mack Brown. With only a slight exaggeration, Spavital re- called the Longhorns hosting re- cruiting events for high school juniors. The UT coaches would secure commitments from 20 hand-picked players, then be done with recruiting for the year. "Then the other schools would COLLEGE FOOTBALL Cal hosts Texas, at No. 11, for big stakes VOLLEYBALL PAGE 2 CAL PAGE 2 SONOMA PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, September 17, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1